Sean T. Collins of Rolling Stone ~ he has read the books which makes his reviews particularly insightful. He always makes really interesting op culture analogies (like this week ep to American Psycho)

Maureen Ryan of The Huffington Post ~ she is a book reader as well. I enjoy hearing the perspective of women viewers because I think the show gets a lot of undeserved flack for being “anti women”. She’s also really sharp in her observations.

Watching the Thrones on MTV.com ~ this is a super unique panel style review of each episode. I really like the fact that they have a wide range of opinions (including those of Westeros.org founders Elio and Linda)

Last week’s episode of Game of Thrones ended with a straight-up cliffhanger, in which Jon Snow discovers the not-too-surprising secret that incestuous father Craster has been disposing of his infant sons (offering them, it turns out, as sacrifices to the White Walkers). It leads, in the first scene of “What Is Dead May Never Die,” to the perhaps-somewhat-more-surprising revelation that Mormont knows damn well what Craster is up to.

Breaking News This Morning…. Game of Thrones has been renewed for a third season by HBO!

This makes me phenomenally happy because book 3, “Storm of Swords” is my favorite installment. It has the potential to be the greatest single season of television ever with all the twists and turns that exist in the books and there is one scene in particular (RW) that has the potential to change the landscape of television as a whole.

Also, this news comes on the heels of plans to split the third book into two separate seasons. Seeing as how the paperback version of SOS is over 1,200 pages long, it makes sense. Finding a place to split it, however, could prove quite the challenge for executive produces D.B. Weiss and David Benioff. With the second season coming along spectacularly, I have all the faith in the world that these guys will succeed.

Now, all we can do is hope that the TV series doesn’t catch up with George R.R. Martin. The sixth book should be released in the next century or so, so keep your eyes open for that :). I’m only kidding, but hopefully the tremendous popularity of the series will help motivate Martin to get The Winds of Winter out in a reasonable amount of time.

Thanks again to HBO for making all of our wishes come true ;). Please let there me more episodes next season and perhaps even a higher budget. The show deserves it.

The second season premiere of HBO’s Game of Thrones delivered series-high ratings Sunday night.

Thrones returned to 3.9 million viewers. That’s up a massive 74 percent from its series debut last year. It also greatly improves upon the show’s previous all-time high, which was just over 3 million viewers. Including all three Sunday airings, the show delivered 6.3 million viewers. The numbers mean a third season renewal is pretty much guaranteed (and also dissolves any concerns that last season’s killing of popular characters would result in a dip).

Despite airing on a network with fewer subscribers than its basic cable rivals, HBO’s Thrones stomped the season 2 premier of AMC’s The Killing (1.8 million) and the latest episode of Mad Men (2.9 million).

Even though, for me, it doesn’t come as much of a surprise, these numbers are astounding. I knew that the show had generated a massive buzz after last season ended (the DVD/ BluRay sales proved that) but to see that buzz translate into actual ratings is phenomenal. However, the most exciting part of all this is the fact that these numbers basically ensure a season 3 order by HBO. Storm of Swords is my favorite book in the series, and if the showrunners can pull off some specific scenes (book readers know what I’m talking about), television will never be the same.

Man it feels good to be back! Just FYI, these recaps are coming from the perspective of someone who has read the series, so do not expect them to be entirely spoiler free. (I’ve decided to break the episode down by geography to make things easier).

A couple of reviews for season 2 have been released and they’re overwhelmingly positive!

First up is Entertainment Weekly, who gives the second installment an “A-“. The full review can be found HERE.

Next up is Variety; here is just one quote from the rave review, “By that measure, this [Game of Thrones] really might the closest spiritual heir to “The Sopranos” HBO has delivered since the show’s notorious whiteout.” The full review can be found HERE.